The 'Redemption Song' monument which is expected to be unveiled at Emancipation Park later this year. -Contributed photoGeorgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
REDEMPTION SONG is a fitting monument for an Emancipation Park, and the seven-foot sculpture, created by artist Laura Facey-Cooper, is expected to be unveiled at Emancipation Park in New Kingston later this year to mark its first anniversary.
The name - borrowed from the Bob Marley reggae classic - evokes feelings of freedom, survival, togetherness and reverence. And it is this element of freedom and cultural heritage which appealed to the organisers of the park when they met to select a winner in the Emancipation Park/NHT contest.
According to the organisers, the park was created as a "free space" for Jamaicans to enjoy, a public space that pays tribute to the national heritage. And the monument's symbolism of freedom and independence was in keeping with this theme."
Today, Redemption Song is the central theme of the park and has been incorporated as its official logo.
Mrs. Facey-Cooper is honoured that her work was selected to adorn the park, as "freedom is a subject that I feel close to, because it is something that you have to achieve," she told The Sunday Gleaner in a recent interview.
But emancipation goes deeper than "physical freedom" for her, and Bob Marley's words - None but ourselves can free our mind - were a strong source of inspiration in designing the monument.
"As the song suggests, each of us, whether or not we have been through the experience of slavery, needs to go within and make peace with ourselves," she explained "In designing the monument, I tried to express that the figures have transcended the physical struggles of slavery and have reached a plane of peace, tranquillity and reverence."
The design shows two figures cast in bronze - a man and a woman - standing on a cast-iron dome-shaped surface with water flowing around them and over the dome.
According to Mrs. Facey-Cooper, "The dome represents life, and the water, purity because it washes away the pain, angst and struggle of slavery. The flowing water is a very important feature to me, as it reflects lights, and is refreshing, cooling, and cleansing as it flows over the standing figures."
With faces turned upwards, Mrs. Facey-Cooper notes that the man and woman (representative of Jamaicans) "have risen, and transcended the past and are standing together in reverence, strength and unity."
Creating the design has been an emotional and meaningful experience for the artist, who explained that her work has come to mirror her own personal growth.
The monument is now at a production stage, and is expected to be completed by the end of July to mark the first anniversary of the park's opening.
The challenge for the artist is to transform her seven-inch model into a larger seven-foot replica, and Mrs. Facey-Cooper told The Sunday Gleaner that she has obtained two huge blocks of styrofoam from which she will begin carving these larger models. Then the base will be designed, and, hopefully by the end of March, the process of casting the figures in bronze will begin.
When completed, Redemption Song will be the largest of its kind in the Corporate Area., and the artist hopes that Jamaicans will come to appreciate its meaning and symbolism.
"I am creating a monument for generations to view and be inspired," Mrs. Facey-Cooper said. "My hope is that it will always serve to bring some sense of peace and reverence."
Born in Kingston in 1954, Mrs. Facey-Cooper was educated at the Jamaica School of Art in Kingston, and later attended the West Surrey College of Art and Design, in England, and the Rhode Island School of Design in the USA.
She is, in principle, a sculptor but works in many different media and is represented in private collections and at the National Gallery of Jamaica. Earth to earth, one of her life-sized sculptures is represented in the Caribbean Sculpture Park at the University of Technology (UTech), while a model of Christ is displayed in the St. Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way Tree.
